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When the American consumer goes to market.

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He is bombarded with the claims of
advertising on the air in the press from all

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sides often conflicting needs claims
range all the way from honest to phone

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but even the honest most straightforward
claims rarely give the comparative facts

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the consumer needs if he has
to choose intelligently.

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Looking for answers the consumer finds
questions which brand is the Best Buy is

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price a guide to quality what's good
what's bad who can tell me to help find

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answers to the consumers questions as in
this case by testing new cars for their

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actual performance. There
is an organization.

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It's job is to supplied to several million
people who look to it regularly for the

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truth buying guidance
based on unbiased tests.

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These New England children
are actually at play.

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But for this same consumer organization
they are also part of a research project as

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serious objective

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and thorough as another one on a lake
in Florida where an outboard goes round

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and round.

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Headquarters for this research work on the
public's behalf is in Mt Vernon New York

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at Consumers Union chartered twenty five
years ago as a nonprofit membership

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organization.

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Chief among its many services is the
monthly magazine Consumer Reports the.

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This organization which
accept no advertising

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or sponsorship receives its income
from the sale of its publications.

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Its reader members are a responsive group

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and their replies to questionnaires are
important in determining subjects to be

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researched

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and reported on devoting its entire income
to the cost of its work Consumer's Union

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links together a well informed
membership in the common interest.

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The members by mail ballots also annually
designate their choices for consumers

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unions board of directors often
eminent economists scientists

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or other professional people.

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None of whom may have any
connection with any manufacturer

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or distributor of consumer goods.

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They find their compensation in the
organization's mission to serve by exposing

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deceptive selling practices by
encouraging higher quality standards

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and by telling consumers the
facts they need before they buy

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all the work of see you as because it is
supervised by Dexter masters the director

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who is appointed by the board
with the use editorial director.

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Mildred Brady Masters reviews have the
elation of readers questionnaires finding

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much reader interest in stereo phonographs
they decide the subject is worth looking

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into.

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To this then the department heads meet to
plan the study's settling such questions

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as which brands and
models should be tested.

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What price range would interest most readers
what performance characteristics would

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readers want most to know about.

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The men

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and women who settled these points bring
to bear a knowledge of audio electronics.

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Plus long experience in
marketing purchasing search.

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When the meeting ends packaged stereo.
Phonographs is an active project.

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The specific test methods to be employed

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and the engineering approach are worked
out by technical director Morris Kaplan

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with Michel Carter head of
the C.U. Audio laboratory.

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The library staff prepares a complete
bibliography of technical references

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and background material for
everyone working on the project.

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While researchers prepare to furnish a
running supply current information.

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All across the United States consumers
union has its own staff of shoppers on a

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call from the market information department
they stand ready to purchase products

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for study.

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Shoppers are instructed to dress like
someone who is buying for personal use

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and never reveal their
mission for Consumers Union

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but shoppers pay for their
purchases in cash and so

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that there can be no switching of merchandise.
They insist on immediate delivery.

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Meanwhile at Mount Vernon N.C.

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Use audio laboratory engineers have readied
the complex equipment which will be

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used to test

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and compare the stereo phonographs evaluation
will be for quality for performance

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for safety and for convenience
important considerations in any C.

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You study in this case objective
test have been devised to detect

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and measure distortion and sound

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and to record the smoothness of mechanical
function both prime factors in audio

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performance these tests will be applied
to all the sample phonographs received

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and will go on for many weeks but it.

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There may be at any time forty to fifty
different projects under study in the seven

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major laboratories in the chemical
laboratory always one of the most active a

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comparison of dozens of brands of competing
dog foods may be taking place at the

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same time

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and with the same care as a laboratory
examination of prepared baby food for

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its tests of children's shoes Consumers
Union goes outside its laboratories to a

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most unbiased group footwear is carefully
fitted to each of the boys who will wear

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several pairs in rotation each pair for a
stated length of time under conditions of

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normal wear

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and tear on

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Abbey intervals during fifteen weeks
the shoes are examined for appearance

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and condition then in the use textile
laboratory the shoes are distracted for the

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final analysis of how they have
stood up to the stress of use.

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Meanwhile from the automobile Test Track

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and other facilities in Connecticut chief
automotive consultant Lawrence crooks

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brings to the Mt Vernon
headquarters of see you.

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His latest data on cars which the
organization has been testing publications

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director David mess has been waiting to
review with crocs his latest findings which

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include subjective evaluations for
road ability ease of handling

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and riding comfort of the cars already on
hand from earlier examinations are all

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technical specifications.

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See you regularly test new models of
household appliances to check manufacturer's

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claims of improvement.

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Afterwards many of the samples
are sold to staff members

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and their families their samples are
donated to hospitals are finishes

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and the like bio automobiles are
traded in the latest models.

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The test being run on new models of washing
machines will check claims of improved

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washing ability which may or
may not prove to be true.

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With an exact amount of wash carrying
synthetically soiled swatches of material the

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correct amount of soap

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or detergent is put in just as indicated
by the manufacturer later checks will

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cover washing capacity the
amount of electricity consumed

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and even measure the amount of water used.

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To find out how various appliances operate
under different weather conditions. C.U.

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Engineers have designed a chamber where
various combinations of temperature

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and humidity can be
provided with precision.

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The problem at hand is to see whether
temperatures rise inside the refrigerator.

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When the room heat is raised
from seventy to ninety

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and even to one hundred ten degrees by
means of thermal couples placed at various

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positions within the refrigerator the
engineers will determine whether temperatures

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remain low enough but the
proper storage of both fresh

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and frozen foods electrically

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the thermo couples transmit the temperature
readings past the refrigerator door to

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recording devices completely outside the
test chamber the data that's received can

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be interpreted by sea use engineers

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and will form the basis of a future
article in Consumer Reports.

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Since the most essential
requirement of a portable T.V.

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Set is

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that it be actually light enough to carry
the samples selected for testing are

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first weighed and then
measured to check their bulk.

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The engineers study picture quality with
a standard test pattern broadcast by sea

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use own close circuit T.V. Transmitters.

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It's a painstaking business and it can't
be done merely by and by good intentions.

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It requires expensive equipment to
measure crispness fineness of detail

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and many other factors.

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Other rigorous tests can be performed only
in the isolation of the first green room

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a Farraday cage where radio waves
normally in the air cannot enter.

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There under carefully
controlled conditions a minute

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and technically realistic comparison
can be made of each of the receivers

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performance characteristics
for the consumers guidance.

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But some products cannot be
evaluated by any special equipment

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nor yet by any staff of male researchers.

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So the matter in question was referred to
a test group of fifty women who compared

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ball point lipstick with the
traditional kind of Staff members

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always on the lookout for products of special
interest dotted an educational toy is

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something readers might like to
know about standards of performance

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and value can be applied as readily
to a toy as to an appliance.

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Bound to be on rates not acceptable
electrical appliances are always carefully

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checked for possible shock hazards.

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For safety on the highway as evident by C.

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Use continuing campaign for devices
like the automobile seatbelt

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and for their improvement

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manufacturers often react to see use negative
ratings by improving their products.

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This is attested by many letters see you has
received from the companies themselves.

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With the hundreds of thousands of brands

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and models of consumer goods
found in today's marketplace.

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See you obviously cannot
test and report on them all.

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No one organization could do that
but see you test as many brands

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and models as it can afford to within
the context of its readers indicated

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00:13:06,46 --> 00:13:10,20
interests. Beyond this E.U.

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Provides general buying guidance

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00:13:12,52 --> 00:13:18,43
and informed evaluations of many
products by types as well as by brands

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and aside from its test reports see you
always gives the consumer as much reliable

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00:13:27,35 --> 00:13:31,47
information as it can assemble
on pricing distribution

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00:13:31,47 --> 00:13:36,66
and other trade practices which may also
affect the consumer's judgment as to the

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desirability

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and suitability of a product in

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the case of package stereo phonographs
thirty five individual brands

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and models have been undergoing
their laboratory tests.

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00:14:02,64 --> 00:14:07,37
Now the time has come to review the data
from these tests at one of the periodic

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00:14:07,37 --> 00:14:13,73
meetings of the C.E.O. Project team.
With the first results in hand.

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00:14:13,75 --> 00:14:16,31
The writer can begin
blocking out his story

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and at the same time answered by the
technical or marketing members of the team.